


light reflects from your shadow

by meteor-sword (vaenire)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Comfort, Dreams, Gen, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Trans Character, trans Bato
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaenire/pseuds/meteor-sword
Summary: Bato dreamed about the days spent sprawled together on her bed, sometimes.
Relationships: Bato & Kya (Avatar), Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Past Hakoda/Kya (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	light reflects from your shadow

Bato dreamed about the days spent sprawled together on her bed, sometimes. After school when she would invite him over and they’d throw their backpacks by the door and run up the stairs to her room. She would put on a record and they’d sit cross legged on her bed talking until her mother brought a tray of snacks. 

His dreams started like that, sort of, but he came in the front door by himself. The hallway customarily full of her siblings’ shoes was empty, and the backpack he set there was too light. The stairs didn’t creak when he walked up them. 

She was in her room, and there were posters Bato couldn’t read anymore and she was looking for a particular record. She didn’t say as much, but he knew it as he sat next to her on the ground beside her crate of records. She smiled at him and continued flipping through the labels. 

“Hey Bato,” she said, “How’s it going?” She asked it like it was a Sunday afternoon and they hadn’t seen each other since Friday, and also like years had gone by. She selected an album and then they were laying on their backs on her bed, legs hanging off the side. 

“It’s going fine,” he replied. He knew this was a dream, and he was pretty sure she knew it too. Still, he held himself back from breaking the illusion and telling her how much he missed her. She looked over at him strangely, but rolled her eyes and sat up. 

“You can take that off, if you wanna,” she said casually as she reached behind her back and under her shirt to unclip her bra and throw it to the side. He became aware of his binder, a feeling he hasn’t been familiar with in years. 

“I’m fine,” he said. 

“Suit yourself,” she said with a shrug as she kicked off her converse and crawled properly onto the bed. “Have you finished the project for…” she started, and Bato stopped listening, absorbing the cadence and tonality of her voice instead. The bed was too big for Kya’s childhood room, he noticed passively as she recounted how much work she put into the latest English project for school and what her little sister had done the day before and what Hakoda had said on the phone when they stayed up talking last night. 

He looked at her when she stopped talking. She was brushing her hair now and frowning at her bedsheets. 

“What?” he asked. 

“Oh nothing,” she said. Then she looked at him, and her eyes were more familiar-- older, more like the last time Bato had seen her. “How is he?” 

Bato swallowed and stared up at the ceiling. It was flat and plain, not anything like Kya’s popcorn ceiling covered in tacks from holding up lights or streamers or whatever else she picked up from the party section of a Dollar Store any given week in high school. How is Hakoda? 

Kya didn’t wait for his answer, crawling over and pulling his hair out of its wolf tail and brushing it against the mattress. He sat up to make it easier for her as he struggled to formulate any sufficient answer to her question. He realized that there was none, and that she needed none as she began to part his hair and braid it. 

He flinched when she rested her forehead on the back of his shoulder after she finished his braids, supernaturally quick. 

“I’m glad you’re there with him,” she said. 

\--

Bato woke with a small gasp in the dark room. 

It was a chilly night, and he pulled the blanket closer to his chin to the dismay of the cat curled at his feet. He could hear the wind outside the window and the rain against the glass. It howled and whipped over the water in the distance, and Bato shivered, burrowing closer to the warmth under the blankets. 

The warmth was Hakoda-- or where Hakoda should be. He reached out and found the warm sheets empty. He hummed to himself in question and peered toward the door. There was no light on. 

He sat up groggily, loath to let the blanket fall off his shoulders as he reached for a discarded sweater on the chair beside his side of the bed. He pulled it on as he stood, tapping his foot around in search of his slippers. It was too cold to wander out onto the hardwood floors without them. 

There was a slash of moonlight across the hall when he ventured out of their room, cut by Hakoda’s silhouette. Bato’s eyes were still adjusting, but he could see when Hakoda looked up at Bato’s footsteps from where he leaned in the kids’ bedroom doorway. 

He came up behind Hakoda, who didn’t move, and set a hand on his shoulder. Hakoda leaned back against him silently. 

This wasn’t the first time Bato found Hakoda here, needing reassurance and to see that the kids were still there. 

“Come with me to the kitchen?” Bato asked into his hair. Hakoda nodded distantly, and pulled the door shut softly. 

They didn’t speak-- didn’t need to-- as Bato heated water for tea. In the fluorescent light of the kitchen, Hakoda looked exhausted when Bato handed him a mug, holding it in both his cold hands as he drank. Bato rinsed the mug after, and followed Hakoda back to their room. Bato moved the cat from beside their pillows where it was warm-- he’d allow him to stay if he could be sure the cat wouldn’t scratch Hakoda in the night, but as it stood it seemed the cat enjoyed doing just that. Hakoda collapsed onto the bed with a huff, and a soft giggle when Bato pulled him close and wrapped his arms around him. Hakoda nestled into the crook of Bato’s shoulder before his breaths evened out and he fell asleep. 

There was no need to thank Bato for being here. He wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else in the world. 

**Author's Note:**

> i had feelings at 2am so here we are
> 
> title from angels by the xx


End file.
